Reshaping the World of Research through Remote Experimentation: How the Pandemic Steered User Research Facilities on an Unexpected Journey of Adaptation

Abstract

We all remember the impact of stay-at-home orders on our everyday lives in spring 2020. However, it was not only restaurants, salons, flower shops, and bookstores that had to close their doors. National user research facilities shut down most operations, closing the doors to thousands of visiting scientists, and bringing research on new batteries, pharmaceutical drugs, and many other materials to a grinding halt at a time when these facilities were needed more than ever. So, seven user research facilities (Figure 1) decided to form a team of experts, the Remote Access Working Group (RAWG), to figure out how these facilities could keep the science going even when the researchers could not access them in person. The solution is as simple as it is difficult. Research facilities that serve visiting researchers have to create an environment in which experiments can be run from afar—with nearly no human interaction. Scientists have dubbed this new way of doing research remote experimentation. While each facility started the unexpected journey to remote experimentation on their own, the RAWG has brought all of the different ideas together to help each facility overcome the numerous challenges encountered along the way.